Litigation and Regulation

The family of a Torrance man killed by a drunk driver who was a substance-abuse counselor filed a wrongful death lawsuit Thursday against the drug rehab center where she worked. Sherri Wilkins, who was employed by Twin Town Treatment Center in Torrance, is serving a 55-year-to-life prison sentence for the death of 31-year-old Phillip Moreno, whom she struck with her car on Nov. 24, 2012. At the time of the crash, Wilkins told police she was heading home from work. The treatment center denies she was working at the facility that day. The wrongful death lawsuit filed Thursday morning in Los Angeles Superior Court alleges that the treatment center was negligent because it failed to...

Related "Litigation and Regulation" Articles

The family of a Torrance man killed by a drunk driver who was a substance-abuse counselor filed a wrongful death lawsuit Thursday against the drug rehab center where she worked.
Sherri Wilkins, who was employed by Twin Town Treatment Center in...

The ousted executive director of the State Bar of California sued the lawyer’s group Thursday, saying he was fired because he tried to expose "egregious improprieties" by bar officials.
Joseph Dunn, a former state senator from Orange County,...

The city of Los Angeles filed a lawsuit Thursday against a building contractor and five of its subcontractors, accusing them of not paying more than 50 employees a total of more than $250,000 in wages and overtime.
Some employees who were meant to be...

When Los Angeles-area resident Andres Carrasco reached a settlement with Adriana's Insurance, he expected a check, but instead received more than a dozen buckets containing at least $21,000 in coins.
Eight representatives with the insurance company...

The Sriracha war appears to be cooling down.
The Irwindale City Council voted Wednesday night to drop its declaration that the hot sauce plant was a public nuisance.
Sriracha maker Huy Fong Foods and Irwindale have been feuding in the courts and in...

"Fracking" — now there's a word that just begs for a bumper sticker. Short for "hydraulic fracturing" — the process of breaking open rock with high-pressure liquids to get at otherwise untappable oil and natural gas — fracking conjures...

WASHINGTON — E-cigarette companies are preying on young consumers by using candy flavors, social media ads and free samples at rock concerts, according to a report released Monday by Democratic legislators.
A survey of nine electronic-cigarette companies...

WASHINGTON — Airline customers complain about being mistreated daily, but Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg took his grievance all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Unfortunately for Ginsberg, the court sided Wednesday with Northwest Airlines Inc., now...

Turns out that for Apple Inc., being one of the most innovative companies on the planet does have at least one big drawback.
The Cupertino, Calif., company says it is the No. 1 target for so-called patent trolls.
In court and regulatory filings, Apple...

When California's telephone market was deregulated in 2006, consumers were told that increased competition would improve service and reduce prices.
It hasn't worked out like that.
Carlsbad resident Steve Linke has received so-called measured service...

WASHINGTON — Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg of Minneapolis admits being both a frequent flier and a frequent complainer. He flew on Northwest Airlines about 75 times a year, domestically and internationally, earning enough miles to qualify for...

They have the shape, feel and nicotine of tobacco cigarettes, but e-cigarettes should not be regulated like tobacco products, makers of the popular new product say.
The Smoke Free Alternatives Trade Assn., an industry group, is lobbying to avoid Food and...

NEW YORK — The financial crisis has finally caught up with Jamie Dimon.
As leader of JPMorgan Chase & Co., he steered the nation's largest bank through the Wall Street collapse of 2008. At the prodding of panicked U.S. regulators, the mighty New York...

SACRAMENTO — Hundreds of items found on supermarket shelves, such as shampoos, cleaning supplies, cosmetics and food packaging, could get chemical makeovers under new rules being put in force by California.
On Thursday, state toxic chemical regulators...

The Los Angeles Unified School District has exited litigation that seeks to limit the seniority rights of California teachers by voiding several provisions of state law.
The lawsuit, filed by the group Students Matter, originally targeted the nation's...

Taking the stand in a $20-million product liability lawsuit, the top U.S. executive for Toyota Motor Corp. deflected questions on the technical details of his company's cars and the costs of installing a safety system that plaintiffs contend could have...

When voters passed Proposition 39 in 2000, they surely had no idea of the headaches it would cause Los Angeles schools. Most Californians probably never even noticed the wording about providing space for charter schools, and if they did, they had little...

Ronald L. Motley, a crusading plaintiff's lawyer who took on the asbestos industry before targeting tobacco companies in a landmark victory for the anti-smoking movement that brought the biggest civil settlement in U.S. history, died Thursday in...

One of Silicon Valley's favorite hobbies is complaining endlessly about the rise of "patent trolls" and how they're destroying innovation.
And by patent troll, we mean a company that doesn't make anything but just owns a bunch of patents and...

As if California and its municipalities were not already making life difficult for businesses and taxpayers, the Golden State's courts could pile on too.
On July 15, a trial began in San Jose, in which seven California counties (Santa Clara, Alameda, Los...